Month: August 2018

Not exactly the start to your Columbus Blue Jackets career you want if you’re Matiss Kivlenieks. Coming of a record setting year in the USHL as a goalie, being named the top player in the USHL and dominating the playoffs, Matiss was signed and hopes were high for the Latvian.

But life in the pros is tough. And Matiss learned that no matter how well you play, you’re still just one guy that still has to rely on his teammates. Last year, the Cleveland Monsters were terrible to say the least and Matiss faced a ton of high chance opportunities and didn’t have a lot of scoring support.

In 43 games, Matiss had a .891 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.21. Woof.Again, not all of this was on Matiss. The Monsters were miserable. But it wasn’t the start that Matiss wanted and expectations for this year should be higher for him. If he doesn’t play better, newly signed Jean-Francois Berube will quickly take his place. Berube is looking to play his way back into the NHL and has a lot to prove in the final year of his contract.

Matiss has the raw ability to play at a high level. He is still only 22-years-old and goalies take much longer to fully mature. The Latvian is entering the second year of his contract though and progress should be expected. Playing in 43 games of a 76 game season is a solid start. I would expect that number to get to 50 this season.

Kivlenieks will progress along with the Monsters this season. The team will be significantly better and should help reduce the amount of high danger shots Matiss faces this season.Expect his save percentage to break the .907 mark and his goals against average to dip below three

The way for a team to get better in the salary cap era is by making strategic draft choices. And even though it’s not necessary to grab the great players all at once, a forward-thinking team must have the ability to pounce when those kinds of prospects become available.

The Golden Knights are off to a decent start on both counts since they’ve managed to pick off some solid players from other teams in the expansion draft and were also successful in squeezing a nice dollop of future draft picks out of them as well. Plus, being overloaded with defensemen, Vegas has plenty of bargaining chips to trade with in the very near future.

That being said, here are some of the more notable Knights to watch this season.
In Goal

First off, we have Marc-Andre Fleury in net. As an expansion team, you want to build from the net out and that’s exactly what the Golden Knights have done with this acquisition. Fleury is the kind of goalie that instills confidence, and his presence will also allow coach Gerard Gallant to play the kind of fast-paced game he likes.

Along with the big saves and instincts, Fleury brings with him 375 wins and three Stanley Cups and looks destined to be the Golden Knights’ first Hall-of-Famer. There’s no point in beating the “face of the franchise” cliche to death because his mere presence will obviously help ratchet up ticket sales and get the fans excited early on about supporting this unproven team.

Vegas Puck Movers
James Neal (Left Wing)

The Golden Knights’ main offensive weapon has to be “The Real Deal” James Neal, who is coming off a 30 goal-scoring season with Nashville and is also a nine-time 20-goal scorer.

Neal likes to score goals and is a threat anywhere on the ice, but he will have to adjust to the fact that he’s no longer working with a top center like he has in the past. Not sure which one he is? Just look for the guy who skates without a helmet during warmups.Vadim Shipachyov (Center)

No way any of the NHL teams were going to leave their number-one center exposed in the expansion draft, so Vegas will have to create their own. A lot of good things are being said about Shipachyov coming out of the KHL and he is in a position to take the top spot from the other contenders.
Jonathan Marchessault (Center)

In his first full NHL season, the 26-year-old Marchessault led the Panthers with 30 goals—three of them coming from a dazzling hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Reilly Smith (Right Wing)

Smith was Marchessault’s teammate in Florida, where he scored 87 points in 162 games.

Brendan Leipsic (Left Wing)

Only 23 years old, Leipsic is a smaller guy who scored 109 points in 114 games in the American Hockey League. He made his NHL debut in a road game against the Vancouver Canucks where he handily batted a bouncing puck out of the air and into the net.
Tomas Nosek (Left Wing)

Interesting that the Golden Knights would pick a player who has only 17 NHL games to his credit, but at 6’2″ 210 lbs, Nosek is a bigger player and leaves the Griffins with a team-leading 10 goals and 22 points in 19 playoff games.
David Perron (Left Wing)

Perron has bounced around a bit but hopefully, he bounces into T-Mobile Arena with some of the momentum he built up with his last team, the St. Louis Blues. He scored 18 goals and 46 points in St. Louis, but doubters warn not to get too attached as he may not be around next season.
Teemu Pulkkinen (Left Wing)

Pulkkinen had a couple of 30-goal-scoring seasons in the AHL and back in January, he became the second player in the Grand Rapids Griffins’ franchise history to record three power-play goals in one game.

Neal seems to be the only “given” on offense, but he is surrounded by plenty of players who have either scored in junior hockey, in the AHL or in the KHL, and you can bet they will all be hungry to score in the NHL.

Rumors are Tyler Seguin will be highly sought after in NHL free agency next summer and before he gets to that point the Dallas Stars want to re-sign him to a long-term contract. Considering what Seguin stands to lose if he doesn’t wait, speculation is, he may hold off on signing and cash in when a bidding war begins.

Tyler Seguin is poised to become the story of NHL free agency next summer. A center with five consecutive seasons of 72 points or more, Dallas would love to get him signed right away and lock up their franchise center to a long-term deal. Unfortunately for Dallas, Seguin seems to know what that kind of production is worth in today’s NHL and may choose to hold off on an extension until he can maximize his value.

NBC Sports’ James O’Brien believes Seguin may choose to wait until next summer to sign. O’Brien contends that Seguin will not only want to see how the Stars do this coming season before committing and staying with a potentially struggling team and a new coach but that financially, he stands to make far more money if he waits and lets a bidding war for his services begin.After what happened this summer with names like John Tavares, it makes sense Seguin would want to wait. Tavares received an $11 million per season deal from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a deal that was actually a discount over what he could have gotten had he stayed with the New York Islanders. At the very least, Seguin should fetch the same return if he produces another 70-80 point season in Dallas this year.

If he were to sign now, the chances Seguin would hit that $11 million mark is slim.

NHL players often get overpaid in free agency when multiple teams are bidding for them. Should Seguin wait, there is no doubt he’ll be one of the better-paid players in the NHL. One question worth asking though, would $11 million or more really be an overpayment for Seguin who has shown himself over the course of eight seasons to be one of the elite centers in hockey?